If you haven't read Icelandic Nobel Prize winner Halldor Laxness' book "Independent People," you need to pick it up right away and bring it with you to the beach. It is an unforgettable story about, among other things, how and why women and men live together as partners. The story revolves around a man fighting to make it on his own as a sheep farmer in the unforgiving climate of Iceland. He will accept no help or charity from anyone, except of course from his wife who is little more than a slave in his house.